Are you ready? NFL’s free agency bonanza begins

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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – It begins.

Arguably the most interesting and debate-fueling phase of the NFL’s calendar is underway, and only figures to intensify in the coming days and weeks.

Welcome back, free agency. Teams were allowed to negotiate with pending free agents beginning at noon Monday, but contracts cannot be finalized until the start of the new league year, Wednesday at 4 p.m.

We’ve already gotten an early boost thanks to Antonio Brown, who maneuvered his way out of Pittsburgh and now is the face of the Oakland Raiders. We’ve got pending deals in place for a Quarterback Carousel that sends Joe Flacco from Baltimore to Denver and Case Keenum from Denver to Washington, and everyone anticipates Nick Foles relocating from Philadelphia to Jacksonville by the end of the week.

Kansas City slapped the franchise tag on Dee Ford, but apparently is listening to trade offers, and the Chiefs released Justin Houston. The New York Giants’ novel approach to improving their No. 24-ranked defense includes trading sack leader Olivier Vernon to Cleveland and opting not to use the franchise tag on Landon Collins, allowing their three-time Pro Bowl safety to hit the open market.

Early signings for players who’ve been released include Eric Weddle (from Baltimore to the Los Angeles Rams), Malik Jackson (Jacksonville to Philadelphia) and Dwayne Allen (New England to Miami).

And it’s still so very early.

Here’s where we remind you Chris Ballard enters free agency with the ability to do whatever he wants in terms of addressing an Indianapolis Colts roster good enough to post a 10-6 record, earn a wild-card playoff berth and win at Houston in the first round of the postseason, but deficient in enough areas to be overwhelmed at Kansas City in the second round.

The Colts have an NFL-high $101 million in cap space.

We expect them to be busy, but not initially when the crazy money flows. In his first two years, Ballard has targeted so-called second-tier free agents (Denico Autry, Eric Ebron, Jabaal Sheard, John Simon). The only real exception was Johnathan Hankins, who was given $14.5 million guaranteed on a three-year deal that lasted one year.

While we expect Ballard to follow his active-but-selective blueprint in the coming days, we’re not going to be shocked if he deviates. The Colts lack playmakers and the NFL is all about a team possessing a handful of players who make a difference.